Rogobete accuses unfairness in the distribution of hospital posts: Bihor received more than other counties

Former Health Minister Alexandru Rogobete called on Tuesday evening for public explanations regarding how the recently unblocked posts were distributed across healthcare facilities. He claims that Bihor County, with a population of 551,000, received 131 posts for the Bihor County Clinical Emergency Hospital, whilst other counties with larger populations received far fewer.

UPDATE: Interim Labour Minister Dragoș Pîslaru responded live on Digi24 to Rogobete's accusations, stating that the allocation of posts was based on objective criteria. Pîslaru accused the former minister of "hypocrisy", saying that during his tenure at the Health Ministry, Rogobete had never requested additional posts through a memorandum to the Ministry of Finance.

What Rogobete says

On his Facebook page, Rogobete called on the Government to explain the criteria used to allocate the posts "unblocked" via memorandum. According to the figures he presented, the distribution was as follows:

• Bihor (551,000 inhabitants) – Bihor County Clinical Emergency Hospital – 131 posts
• Bacău (601,000 inhabitants) – Bacău County Emergency Hospital – 77 posts
• Brașov (546,000 inhabitants) – Brașov County Clinical Emergency Hospital – 65 posts
• Cluj (679,000 inhabitants) – Cluj County Clinical Emergency Hospital – 51 posts
• Constanța (655,000 inhabitants) – "Sf. Apostol Andrei" County Clinical Emergency Hospital – 65 posts

Rogobete noted that Cluj County Clinical Emergency Hospital is one of the most important university and medical centres of excellence in the country, and that "Sf. Apostol Andrei" Hospital in Constanța had been unable to cover its neurosurgery on-call rotas just a few months ago.

He also presented the situation of several national institutes, which treat patients from across Romania:

• National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Prof. Dr. Matei Balș" – 15 posts
• Bucharest Oncology Institute – 22 posts
• Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases "Prof. Dr. C.C. Iliescu" – 24 posts
• Fundeni Clinical Institute – 86 posts
• Clinical Emergency Hospital for Children "Grigore Alexandrescu", the only hospital in the country treating children with severe burns – 24 posts

"I am not saying that Bihor doesn't need doctors. It does. Just like every county and every major hospital in Romania. Stop this! You are destroying the healthcare system!", wrote Rogobete.

Background to the decision

The Government approved on Tuesday evening the memorandum on organising competitions to fill vacant posts in public healthcare facilities. This unlocks over 6,850 posts, the majority of which are for nurses. Most of these are destined for hospitals, with nearly 400 posts allocated to county ambulance services.